This page is for volunteers who want to join the community fridge and know more about it. Please consider to do a Level 1 Food Hygiene course. A free course is listed below: https://skillstocare.com/courses/food-safety-level-1/
Reducing food waste and empowering communities
The main purpose of a community fridge is to save fresh food from going to waste. It is a site where local people can share food, this includes surplus from supermarkets, local food businesses, producers, households and gardens. We currently collect about 500kg of food every Friday and give a large portion of that to the general community as well as use it in a number of our community events, like the Hope Cafe and other initiatives.
A Community Fridge (CF) is a friendly, accessible and community-led initiative. It is open to everyone, regardless of means and is not a food bank or a solution to food poverty. It is hoped that this space will help connect people together to learn new skills, live more sustainably and reduce food waste.
Rules & Regulations
The community fridge abides by the regulations set out by the Food Safety Agency who are a regulatory body that provide regulations we need to abide. A number of our volunteers have Level 1 or if they cook, have a level 2 Food Safety Certificate. We also work with the Environment Health department at Runnymede Borough Council.
It is important to note that the environment could have a number of allergens such as nuts and gluten. For this reason anyone with a nut allergen is discouraged from entering the facility. We also have a disclaimer for any CF users.
Risk Assessment
Food that is close to Use By / Best Before date is collected by St John’s Community Fridge teams on Tuesday evening from 8pm-11pm, Wednesday evening from 8.30pm-10pm and all day Friday (11.45am-11pm). This is sorted and distributed to people within the Egham Community from The Caddey and the Atrium in the Easter Centre
Hazard Identification: The risks are evaluated as standard / medium / high and all existing control measures and any further measures required are described below
| Hazard | Present Risk Evaluation (S/M/H) | Control measures | Risk Evaluation after control (S/M/H) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Injury associated with lifting and carrying crates | M | Volunteers to be informed about how to carry and to wear appropriate clothing | S |
| Slips, trips and falls | M | Floor surfaces to be monitored for slip and trip hazards and either removed or signs placed to make users aware Volunteers need to put trolleys and crates safely away under tables away from the walking areas | S |
| Crates | H | Crates need to be stacked by type as they jam & cleared away. If there is only one the crate needs to be placed on its side or under a table to reduce accidents. | S |
| Crowding / Access to fire exits | H | 1. Keep doors closed for the beginning 2. Limit number of people between 11:00-11:30am: to about ten CF users 3. If there are less volunteers, limit the numbers further to ensure volunteer and CF user well being | S |
| Electrical Equipment | M | St John’s kettles, fridges, freezers, etc which have been PAT tested. | S |
| Hygiene | H | 1. Prior to handling or serving food or drinks volunteers should wash their hands and clean surfaces. 2. Volunteers are to be aware of health and hygiene procedures such as using the hand basins to wash hands. 3. Food tongs are to be made available to the public and gloves made available to volunteers 4. Any volunteer who has had a bout of sickness or diarrhea within 48 hours of the opening event should refrain from being a volunteer. 5. Hand sanitisers will be available for helpers and the public to use. 6. Any person who shows signs of flu or cold symptoms will not be allowed to be present. 7. Open wounds to catering/serving helpers to be covered by a blue plaster. 8. Tea towels are not to be used for the drying of hands. | S |
| Medical | S | 1. For cuts and scrapes, a first aid kit is available in the cloak cupboard in The Caddey; in the Easter Centre it is available in the atrium kitchen. A defibrillator is available in the atrium of the Easter Centre. 2. Any use of the first aid kit needs to be noted in the record book with the kit. 3. Contact 999 for any emergency situation | S |
| Car Park | M | Cars parking available in the adjacent church car park | S |
| Evacuation Procedures | M | 1. Volunteers to be aware of evacuation procedures and location of emergency exits. 2. The assembly point is the War Memorial in the event of a fire | S |
| Fire | M | 1. Fire extinguishers will be available in the Caddey and the Atrium 2. Fire exits in the Caddey and the Atrium are to be kept clear of obstruction. Everyone is to assemble around the War Memorial | S |
| Training | M | 1. Ensure volunteers are adequately briefed before commencement of the activity. 2. New volunteers to have an older volunteer work with them | S |
| Trolleys | M | 1. Return one blue trolley to the Easter Centre 2. Place one of the blue trolleys under the bread table 3. Place the stand up trolley into the store cupboard | S |
The Distribution of Food on a Saturday
Unfortunately some people do not understand how to share and we have had flower gate twice (fights over the flowers); some people will load up on food items they like without consideration for others. We have a couple of CF users who will put a lot of one item (such as, as many bananas as possible) into their bags. Thus it is important that Saturday volunteers ensure sharing of all items and circumvent CF users uncontrolled desires and reiterate that this is a sharing environment.
Currently we have about 100-110 CF users. If there are a low number of a particular item we divide this up so many people can enjoy the food such as eggs. If we have 6 boxes of eggs, then the eggs are split so that only one egg is given per CF user.
However volunteers will need to be discerning for some families that are struggling and who may request a little more to give to members of their families or neighbours who they know might also need a little hand up. Please also direct them to The Village Centre, Englefield Green that has a community fridge that operates on Monday and Friday (https://www.villagecentre.org.uk/group/community-fridge/) and Community Wisdom that operates on a Tuesday from 10am-11am at Staines Baptist Church
Processing of the Food
1. Only volunteers who are processing the food or will be cooking the food for a community event will be allowed to enter the processing room
2. All incoming food needs to be logged before any is removed
3. Bread to be separated by type and in lower crates + some taller crates
Leading the Saturday Community Fridge / Friday Food Processing
We encourage our student volunteers to lead as it looks good on their CV :). To be a CF leader, you will need to take the Church of England safeguard training: https://safeguardingtraining.cofeportal.org/ and send your certificate to St John’s admin team: office@stjohnsegham.com This is a free course and will need you to create an account that is connected to the Guildford Diocese. In addition to that one of the established volunteers will help to mentor you so that you can run a session by yourself.
For more details about being a community fridge volunteer please read the following slides: